Lovely Libraries

I never got around to posting about our trip to the UK in June, but one of the best things we saw was the incredible library, The Long Room, at Trinity College in Dublin. It was jaw-droppingly beautiful, books floor to ceiling, and had this rich, lush quality that made you feel smart just sitting and soaking it in.

We weren't allowed to take photos, so I went in search of one online and found the super-cool site called Curious Expeditions. It was the Librophiliac Love Letter post that left me drooling, but the whole site is worth exploring.

I had no idea there were so many take-your-breath-away, GORGEOUS, I-want-to-live-there libraries around the world.

*Photo from Curious Expeditions

The Dangers of Living a Stone's Throw from Wisconsin

Ever since we moved to the Chicago area a few months ago, I've been obsessed with the idea of driving to Wisconsin to tour a cheese factory and eat samples.

This weekend we took the plunge. We came home with smoked cheddar and gouda and farmer's cheese and some other amazing cheese I can't remember the name of. A decent amount of it has already been eaten, mostly by me. I think the original (naive) idea was to "cook" with it, but it goes down just as easily with chips and salsa.

Yum. Several of the cheese factories/retail stores on the oversized tourism board map also serve ice cream and fudge, just in case the cheese isn't healthy enough for you.

I'm in serious trouble.

Yeah, Sure, You Betcha

We're thinking of going to Minneapolis over spring break. The kids and I have never been (unless you count the airport). It's about a seven-hour drive, and seems like a cool city. We might even meet Aunt Niesja there and make it an all-out party. After all, nothing screams SPRING BREAK!!! like Minnesota. :)

I Heart Chicago

We drove to Chicago again over the weekend. We saw this:

Wood, American Gothic

And this:

Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte

And this too:

van Gogh, The Poet's Garden

I could have stood and stared at van Gogh's work all day. Many of the paintings were off display due to renovations, but we still saw Pissaros, Monets, Giffords, and a bunch of others I can't think of right now.

Yeah. I know embarassingly little about art. But still--culture! Grown-up time! (Even though the kids were there and quite loud and not even a little bit patient. I'm so used to people staring and/or giving me dirty looks it doesn't even faze me anymore.)

*happy sigh* It was heaven.

Good for the Soul, Bad for the Diet

We had a great visit with Dad and his wife this week. It was cool to revisit a few of our favorite tourist spots. The kids basked in the extra attention. And I got to reconnect with my dad, to talk about life and politics and other grown-up stuff.

And I have to say, my dad's a pretty hip guy: cargo pants, a Palm Pilot and digital camera--and of course the willingness to fly halfway around the world. Very cool. I'm pretty sure an MP3 player is in the near future. (Let me know when you're ready for iTunes, Dad. It'll knock your socks off.)

Plus we ate out a lot and I didn't exercise. So...bonus! Or not, since now I have to work twice as hard before our trip to China next month. Blah. If I collapse climbing the steps to the Great Wall, at least it'll be kind of a cool place to bite the big one.


A few pics from our visit to Intramuros:

Stomping Grounds, Part 3

And now to the Utah segment of our trip to the States, where I:

• Met a new nephew
• Burst into tears at a small-town parade (homesickness and/or hormones, I suppose)
• Nearly flung my mother-in-law off the back of a four wheeler
• Careened down a mountain on a luge at Olympic Park
  

We had a blast. Exhibits A through F:

Stomping Grounds part II

We spent the middle leg of our trip in Spokane, where I lived until fifth grade.

It still felt familiar.

I like Spokane because it seems calm, almost lazy. Laid back. It's pretty in an understated kind of way, and people are friendly. They still have the White Elephant store and the same McDonald's where I won second place in the coloring contest at age 3. Riverfront Park looks unchanged, except for the cool new fountain beside the 100-year-old carousel. I wasn't tall enough to try for the gold ring on the carousel until right before we moved away. Sadly, during our trip Mr. First Born endured the same frustration. But he had fun feeding trash to the metal garbage goat.

There was a children's festival the day we visited the park, so the kids got to climb around inside a fire truck, bounce around inside the inflatables, and pal around with Grandpa and Grandma as they collected free loot from all the sponsor booths.

Favorite Spokane moments:

-The First-Born's baptism

-Quality time with grandmas and grandpas and cousins

-P.F. Chang's

The Old Stomping Grounds

Seattle was the last stop on our trip--which makes it the easiest to write about since it's fresh in my memory. We attended the wedding of my darling friend Kendra, whom I've known since we were 11 years old. But we also got to play tourist and see a few of our favorite places (and a few new ones as well).

First off, I was shocked to see the sorry condition of the area where I grew up. Granted, it's been 15 years, but so many businesses were closed or rundown, so many houses uncared for. It made me sad. Most tragic of all was the realization that my beloved Bookworld (a huge used bookstore and mainstay of my growing up years) had become a dollar store. Aaaggghhhh!

But on to the good stuff: Pike Place Market--during its 100-year anniversary, no less--the observation deck of the Columbia building, a Mariners game (woo-hoo! kettle corn!), a ferry ride, and a blissful bachelorette party involving spa treatments and The Melting Pot restaurant. Best of all: the cool, clear air and amazing greenness of the northwest. Heaven.

Whistler's Mother

We're just back from a three-week trip home to the US. It was nice to go, but nice to come home to Manila too.

The First Born learned to whistle about halfway through the trip, and spent the remaining days practicing his technique. Pretty much nonstop. Fun stuff! Cute, though.

Lots of pictures to post in the coming days.

Singapore: Day 4

Sunday morning I ventured out on my own for a few hours. I fueled up with fresh orange/pinapple juice, then took a taxi to the Bugis Street market. I'm a sucker for bargaining in open-air markets, finding treasure among the silly souvenirs. (At Mustafa's I drooled over the silks and batik fabrics and even bought a few. It's never too early to gather decorating ideas for our eventual house hunt next year!)

At the outdoor market I found three spoons for Mom, pretty ones at a third of the hotel gift shop price. I picked up a hand-embroidered shoulder bag in earthy tones, and embroidered mini bags for gifts from the same vendor. This stall was my favorite by far, complete with mystical music and burning incense. Another stall had a filmy Indian tunic in a rich shade of blue--in a "Western" size, no less! Sold. Last but not least: two 5SD watches strung on woven bracelets instead of bands, which tend to get sticky and uncomfortable in the southeast Asian climate. I have terrible luck with watches, but at least if this one stops working I'll be glad I paid $3 US instead of $80 US for the Swatch I was eyeing at Mustafa's.

With the shopping bug mostly out of my system, we all met up around lunchtime and ate at a Chinese hot pot restaurant. Garrett and Kellie, having lived in Shanghai, were old pros. I was totally impressed. I'm pretty timid when it comes to eating, but I tried a few new things and enjoyed the experience. The kids weren't much interested in the food. They built a fort out of chairs in the corner.

Next we took the sky tram to Sentosa island...

...where we rode the luge--some of us more than others. This was actually a lot of fun. The First-Born is a little speed demon. Who knew? Plus the lift system that takes you and the sleds back to the top of the hill was pretty ingenious.

We shopped a little too. I came away a happy camper with a book of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham ("More Far Eastern Tales") and a gorgeous Life magazine publication
entitled "Heaven on Earth: 100 Must-See Destinations." This book will be a guiding force in shaping all future vacations. Bryce has already seen more on the list than I have, but we can fix that. Plus this seems much more manageable than the "1000 Places to See Before
You Die" book that I've paged through but never purchased. Goals are good, so long as the outcome feels attainable, right?

We finished up the day with a babysitter and a meal for the grown-ups at Morton's steakhouse at the Oriental Hotel. It was divine. Inspired. Heavenly. Can I go back?

Day 5: Return to reality.

Night Safari

After the zoo we stuck around for the Night Safari, a separate area where you can either walk or take a tram to see nocturnal animals at their most active. We opted for the tram. No flash photography allowed on the tour, unfortunately, but each area was lit with high spotlights so you could see the critters grazing or roaming around. They encourage hushed voices on the tram while a guide points out animal activity and describes the native habitats. The tapirs were my favorite, round and mellow and standing within arm's reach of the tram as they munched their dinner.

A guest poster (Mr. First-Born) recalls the animals we saw: "I really liked it when I saw the fast animals. We saw rhinos. We saw a sign for flying squirrels, but I don't know why they didn't show them. We drove through water and they said to watch out for the crocodile, so we stayed near the middle. We saw deer come near the tram and then we saw elephants again. We also saw a boy elephant with big tusks. And then we arrived at the tram station and we got off the tram and we went to look around at the really nice stores. And we went home to the hotel."

That pretty much sums it up! Our good friends the Openshaws were such great sports, and perfect travel companions:

Next up: Sentosa Island.

Singapore Zoo

Day 3: Kellie, Garrett, and I went shopping at Mustafa's, a crazy, insanely huge, 24-hour shopping destination in Little India. Bryce watched the kids at the hotel, earning an instant pass through the Pearly Gates for his unselfish act. (Although the guy's in Paris at the moment--without me--and the fact that it's a business trip does nothing to soothe my jealous soul.)

After lunch we took taxis to the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. The zoo was incredible. They take great pains to create natural habitats for the animals--sprawling affairs drenched in greenery, with most fences carefully camoflaged. Crowds were light, so at times it felt as if we had the place to ourselves. We ate Ben and Jerry's. Kellie and the kids rode an elephant. We got very warm and drank a ton of water and/or Coke, but since we were there in the afternoon the temps cooled considerably toward closing time.

The pic with the boys and the zebras makes me smile. We usually get either cheesy grins or wandering eyes. That's okay though. It makes for funny photos. And we didn't plan the matching shirts; it just happened. Little turkeys. I hope they never forget our fun day.

07/07/07

I couldn't miss posting on such a memorable date. And I figured this was as good a time as any to post photos from our Singapore trip.

Here's the view out our hotel window. The early light, tempered by a few stray rainclouds, gave this pic a rich, rosy glow. I loved that even the most developed areas were thick with greenery.

We arrived on a Thursday night, marveled at the clean, spacious, efficient airport, checked into our hotel just off Orchard Road (they warned us about the tiny rooms, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was room enough for the boys to sleep on the floor under the desk), then had a late dinner at a nearby restaurant and collapsed into bed.

We spent most of the next day finding our way around. The kids enjoyed breakfast at McDonald's (where else?) and visiting not one but two toy stores, including a huge Toys R Us. Then it was the grown-ups' turn to choose the entertainment. We found a hop-on/hop-off tour bus and rode the complete route to get a quick look around the city. (Plus I think it was a welcome break for Kellie, our travel buddy, seeing as how she's six months pregnant and all.) That's when I managed to snap three whole pictures out the window of the bus.

This photo and a few even less thrilling pics are the sum total of the bus experience. But look--we're driving on the left side of the road! I never did get used to looking left first before crossing.

Singapore is full of unique, interesting buildings. Strange angles, bright colors, gorgeous landscaping, etc. We never actually carried out the hop-off portion of the hop-on/hop-off tour, though, so I didn't snap a single one. Ah, well. One more reason to go back for another visit.

The tour ended at the Botanic Gardens, where you can wait for another bus or wander your way through lush, green pathways and breathe in the clean air, perfumed with exotic blooms and a curious absence of Jeepney exhaust. Guess which one we picked?

Inviting paths tempt travelers to wander, ponder, and of course make their way to the inevitable gift shop and cafe. But that's Singapore in nutshell: rampant commercialism and the cleanest, greenest streets you'll see anywhere.

To be continued...

Sinkapore

Tomorrow we're leaving for a long weekend in Singapore (or Sinkapore, as the boys call it). We're traveling with friends, so the trip should be a blast.

The laptops are staying home. We're placing bets on who will be the first to collapse on the sidewalk, doubled over in the throes of withdrawal.

The baby is staying home. I'm convinced she'll be walking by the time we get back. And doing long division and diagramming sentences. Please don't forget us, Little Miss Fluffernutter. We won't forget you. Not even when we're sleeping eight consecutive hours and missing that 1 a.m. feeding and 5 a.m. wake-up call...

Boys of Summer

Hooray--pictures! They're ridiculously easy to add, as it turns out. I swear that "add image" button wasn't there the first seven times I posted.

The boys will be going back to school in two short weeks. I think we're all counting the days. The Filipino school year runs June to March, coinciding with the start of the rainy season. Can't say I'm sad to leave the summer heat behind! The rains linger until November. I've always liked rain, and the storms that pass through are impressive to see. Last year's Typhoon Mileno was the strongest we've seen in Manila. Not your typical five-minute downpour! It was humbling, and we didn't even get the worst of it. The provinces are usually the hardest hit, with appalling loss of life and property.





Speaking of nature's power, the second photo was taken in Tagaytay above one of the many active volcanoes in the Philippines. The city of Tagaytay is built along the rim of an ancient volcano. You can drive parallel to the rim and glimpse gorgeous views of Lake Taal, situated inside the giant extinct crater. You can drive down to the water's edge, hire a boat to cross the lake to an island in the center, then hire a horse and guide to take you up a trail to the rim of the "baby" volcano (pictured). Of course the horses are more like ponies and the guides try to gouge your wallet at every opportunity, but it really is a cool little day trip.